Herrick

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Robert Herrick
1591 - 1674
"To The Virgins, to Make Much of Time"
  1. From stanza to stanza in "To the Virgins, to make most of Time," the poet presents:
    a. Variations on a central idea
    b. A progression from a dark attitude to a light one
    c. A progression from a light attitude to a dark one
    d. Two contradictory ideas that are resolved in the end

  1. Which of the following best related the meaning on the third stanza?
    a. Age is the best part of life
    b. Youth is the best part of life
    c. Youth is to be enjoyed; age to be respected
    d. Youth and Age are much the same, but youth passes more quickly

  1. In the first stanza, the speaker directly addresses the young maidens, urging them to “gather [their] rosebuds” while they can and to be aware of time passing. The speaker is obviously referring to more than literally picking flowers. What does the admonition to gather rosebuds represent?


  1. What does the flower of line 3 represent?

  1. The second stanza pictures the sun racing across the sky to set at the end of the day. What does the passage of the day represent? How would you compare this use of sun imagery with that in Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”?

  1. The speaker claims that youth, the “first” part of a person’s life is the best because “youth and blood are warmer.” What does the speaker suggest with the reference to warm blood?


  1. What does the word coy mean in the last stanza? How would you compare Herrick’s use of the word coy with Marvell’s use of the word in “To His Coy Mistress”? What is the significance, in both poems, of young women being referred to as coy?

  1. What warning does the speaker have for the virgins in the last stanza?


  1. Compare and contrast how this poem and Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” depict the carpe diem philosophy.
Quotes by Robert Herrick
  • But ne'er the rose without the thorn.

  • Her eyes the glowworm lend thee, The shooting stars attend thee; And the elves also, Whose little eyes glow Like the sparks of fire, befriend thee.

  • It is the end that crowns us, not the fight.


  • "Twixt kings and tyrants there's this difference known; Kings seek their subjects' good: tyrants their own.

  • I dare not ask a kiss; I dare not beg a smile; Lest having that, or this, I might grow proud the while. No, no, the utmost share Of my desire, shall be Only to kiss that air, That lately kissed thee.